The word enslavement jarred Stephen"s cortex immediately, reminding him of his earlier thoughts about feeling like Grace was enslaved to him without a choice. Hearing the same words coming from his own mother about his father slammed him in the gut. What if he truly was no better than Jerry Willow? His mind invented an imaginary pair of shackles, forever binding Grace to him. He remembered the look of emotional neutrality and then disgust she gave his father at the diner last night. What if one day that look was directed towards him, after he had completed his transformation into his father?Stephen shuttered himself, remembering bits and pieces of what Grace had told him about herself. She had a life before being made into the genie she became. She was a real human being at one time, with no magic. It wasn"t just that he fully commanded some supernatural ent.i.ty. It was a real live human soul that lurked just beneath her surface. He felt sick to his stomach, and hurriedly excused himself from the kitchen. Making his way back to his room, he sat down in his chair, bringing his hands to his face. He felt low, lower than in recent memory, at what he was doing to such a wonderful person as Grace.
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"Master?"
Stephen looked up, to see his very concerned genie sitting on the edge of his bed. She wore a determined smile, as if she were a doctor appraising a sickly patient. That"s how he felt right now: sickly in the soul.
"You must have seen all that, then?" He asked, before tapping his forehead. He didn"t need to expand the conversation, when Grace could easily see into his mind and pick up on his thoughts. She nodded, before slipping off the bed and taking his hands in her own.
"I think it"s time I told you something about me. Something that n.o.body else knows, or will ever know. That something is the story of my life, before becoming a djinn," she said. Grace beckoned him to stand, and led him to the bed, pus.h.i.+ng him back gently against the frame. Once he was settled, she crawled her way into his lap, letting him hold her against him. With a quick flicker of her hand, she said, "There, we have total privacy now. No one will disturb us."
Stephen said nothing, and decided to let her start the story on her own time and pace.